I produced Your Church Matters from January 2015 through August 2017. It was based on two primary beliefs:
1. Your church matters to God.
2. You are significant in the Kingdom of God.
All episodes are archived below.
I decided in September 2017 to bring the podcast to a close and devote the time and energy required to developing other resources. I still believe that a podcast will be part of my future ministry to churches and leaders, but not for now. Thanks for listening.
iTunes Listener Review: “Ordinary pastors, rejoice! Here is a podcast that you are able to relate to immediately. Dr. Gerry Lewis is a skilled, tenured pastor and ministry leader who provides sage advice and hard-earned wisdom. He doesn’t try to impress you with how important he is. He simply seeks to elevate you as you learn and grow together. How refreshing is that? Try out There is No Silver Bullet to begin and see how incredibly practical his insights are.” (David Bowman, Executive Director, Tarrant Baptist Association)
Available Episodes – Season 1 (2015)
000 – Introductory Episode (December 15, 2014)
001 – There is no magic bullet (January 1, 2015)
002 – How to stay overworked and busy in ministry (January 8, 2015)
003 – Celebrate Base Hits to Create Momentum (January 15, 2015)
004 – The Minister’s Main Thing (January 22, 2015)
005 – Why you MUST unplug (January 29, 2015)
006 – What can One Person do? (February 5, 2015)
007 – The Worst Part of Sunday Morning (February 12, 2015)
008 – Are You Burning Up or Just Burning Out? (February 19, 2015)
009 – How to have a church failure … And why you should try to (February 26, 2015)
010 – Responding to Rudeness (March 5, 2015)
011 – How does Scarcity Mentality affect your decisions? (March 12, 2015)
012 – The Rehoboam Syndrome (March 19, 2015)
013 – Tradition or Traditionalism? (March 26, 2015)
014 – How do you stay with a church when it changes? (April 2, 2015)
015 – Give me TO this community (April 9, 2015)
016 – No email for You! (April 16, 2015)
017 – Planning for Success (April 23, 2015)
018 – Take a Soil Test (April 30, 2015)
019 – Taking love on the road (May 7, 2015)
020 – Secular no more! (May 21, 2015)
021 – How well do you take a compliment? (May 28, 2015)
022 – How do you start a ministry from scratch? (June 4, 2015)
023 – Take the 5 for 5 Thankfulness Challenge (June 11, 2015)
024 – 4 Ways to Make Choices without Regrets (June 18, 2015)
025 – 10 Commandments of Powerfully Effective Group Bible Study (June 25, 2015)
026 – Why Start a New Church? (July 2, 2015)
028 – What’s Your Thing? (July 18, 2015)
029 – A Millennial Interview – Part One (July 23, 2015)
030 – A Millennial Interview – Part Two (July 30, 2015)
031 – Issues for the Pastorless Church (August 6, 2015)
032 – Creating a Culture of Gratitude (August 13, 2015)
033 – How to Avoid Death by Committee (August 20, 2015)
034 – Why you should NEVER have a new members class (August 27, 2015)
035 – Issues for the Churchless Pastor (September 3, 2015)
036 – It’s NOT your job! (September 10, 2015)
037 – Masterpieces on the Move (September 17, 2015)
038 – We are Farmers! (September 24, 2015)
039 – Don’t mess with the deacons! (October 1, 2015)
040 – Are you enrolled in “Auto University?” (October 8, 2015)
041 – Make your church more Guest Friendly in 7 days (October 15, 2015)
042 – So you think you’re Guest-Friendly (October 22, 2015)
043 – What are keystone habits and why should we have them? (October 30, 2015)
044 – Why would a pastor not do an invitation? (November 5, 2015)
045 – Why your church needs a social media policy (November 11, 2015)
046 – Oh, Brother, what a day! (November 20, 2015)
047 – Why are people so crazy when it comes to church membership? (December 3, 2015)
048 – Stop with the greeting already! (December 10, 2015)
049 – First Follower (December 17, 2015)
Available Episodes – Season 2 (2016)
050 – We need to lighten up! (January 11, 2016)
051 – How washing dishes changed my life (January 18, 2016)
052 – How do you know it ain’t broke? (January 26, 2016)
053 – When politics and Sunday School collide (February 1, 2016)
054 – Your church cannot be the Body of Christ (February 8, 2016)
055 – What do you do when you feel trapped by God? (February 15, 2016)
056 – Two reasons why pastors shouldn’t have to go to work (February 22, 2016)
057 – Get out of your Comfort Zone and into your Sweet Spot (March 2, 2016)
058 – Could our building be holding us back? (March 8, 2016)
059 – Defeating the delegation demon (March 14, 2016)
060 – Do you know what you don’t know you know? (March 21, 2016)
061 – 10 Commandments of powerfully effective group Bible study [replay] (March 28, 2016)
062 – Celebrate base hits to create momentum [replay] (April 5, 2016)
063 – Creating a culture of gratitude [replay] (April 12, 2016)
064 – Secular no more! [replay] (April 19, 2016)
065 – How do you get access to the “Upper” room? (April 28, 2016)
066 – The S.O.A.P.Y. method of group Bible study (May 4, 2016)
067 – 4 questions to launch powerful Bible study group discussions (May 12, 2016)
068 – Everybody’s got a story [Part 1 of 3] (May 19, 2016)
069 – Everybody’s got a story [Part 2 of 3] (June 2, 2016)
070 – Everybody’s got a story [Part3] (June 8, 2016)
071 – Why “Bible Study” Doesn’t Work (June 14, 2016)
072 – Why should we study the Bible? (June 22, 2016)
073 – A blueprint for a Jesus-focused church (June 29, 2016)
074 – What’s missing in our Bible studies? (July 6, 2016)
075 – Transforming “Bible Study” into Disciple Making (July 13, 2016)
076 – Cleanup on the Bible study aisle! (July 19, 2016)
077 – Budgeting your vacation time (August 3, 2016)
078 – A picture is worth a thousand words (August 11, 2016)
079 – Facebook Discipleship (August 18, 2017)
080 – Sometimes answers just aren’t enough (August 24, 2016)
081 – Church lessons from a restaurant opening (September 1, 2016)
082 – Did he really just say that? (September 8, 2016)
083 – You need a really good reason to get up at 4:00 in the morning (September 15 2016)
084 – The #1 question you MUST ask when planning a church event (September 24, 2016)
085 – When in doubt, Reboot. (October 13, 2016)
086 – What if it is my life that needs realignment? (October 20, 2016)
087 – The most political and UNpolitical post I have ever written (October 27, 2016)
088 – Where will you be in 10 years? (November 4, 2016)
089 – Make your church more Guest-Friendly in only 7 days [encore] (November 10, 2016)
090 – Guard your heart (November 18, 2016)
091 – Old New Worship (November 30, 2016)
092 – A special year-end episode (December 12, 2016)
Available Episodes – Season 3 (2017)
093 – Embarking on the Journey to Amazing (January 12, 2017)
094 – Sometimes the High Road is under construction (January 28, 2017)
095 – Give me 10 good reasons not to give up on Facebook (February 4, 2017)
096 – How do we help people choose to come to church on Sunday? (February 11, 2017)
097 – How do you know when to help people? (February 18, 2017)
098 – What are the things we can’t get wrong (March 3, 2017)
099 – Finding a good church (March 24, 2017)
99a – There is no magic bullet [encore episode] (March 31, 2017)
099b – How to stay overworked and busy in ministry [encore episdoe] (April 7, 2017)
099c – Why you MUST unplug [encore episode] (April 14, 2017)
099d – The Worst part of Sunday morning [encore episode] (April 21, 2017)
099e – How to have a church failure … and why you should try to [encore episode] (April 28, 2017)
099f – 4 Ways to make choices without regrets [encore episode] (May 5, 2017)
099g – How to avoid death by committee [encore episode] (May 12, 2017)
099h – First follower [encore episode] (May 19, 2017)
099i – Are you enrolled in Auto University? [encore episode] (May 26, 2017)
100 – Two tiny letters with massive impact (June 2, 2017)
101 – Yes, a Sabbatical is possible for the small church pastor (June 9, 2017)
102 – Small church pastor, this is just for you (June 19, 2017)
103 – Living with a sense of sacred “sent-ness” (June 24, 2017)
104 – Please, Pastor, just one sermon at a time! (July 7, 2017)
105 – You plan your ministry. When do you plan your life? (July 18, 2017)
106 – Help your congregation ask better questions (July 24, 2017)
107 – God is speaking. Are you listening? (August 5, 2017)
108 – We cannot keep silent anymore! (August 13, 2017)
109 – What I learned about church from “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” (August 20, 2017)
110 – How can my church respond to tragedy at a distance? (August 27, 2017)